Canada pledges billions to science industry in 2018 budget announcement

Having announced the 2018 budget this week, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has pledged $4bn of funding to go towards scientific research over the next five years.

The investment pledge is the largest cash injection for science research in the country’s history, demonstrating and effort from Ottawa to modernise the country in an innovative global climate.

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“Budget 2018 represents the single largest investment in fundamental and discovery research in Canadian history,” finance minister Bill Morneau told the House of Commons on Tuesday.

“More than that, we will make sure that the new money for research supports the next generation of researchers, so we can build a science community that looks more like Canada: more diverse, with a greater number of women.”

$925mn of this will go to Canada’s three key research councils – the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Similarly, Trudeau also responded to requests from the Canadian ICT industry’s requests, proposing to support a range of technology focused areas including a major program to bolster the country’s cybersecurity framework.